Snowflake & 84.51

Series consistency:

In order to maintain a feeling of consistency with the overall video series, I chose to stick with the same fundamental video structure: 2-camera interviews with hero shots, intercut with b-roll, framed in a widescreen aspect ratio. We also used the same graphics templates from the previous videos.

customer brand:

The two primary ways that I chose to infuse 84.51’s brand into the visual elements, was through framing and color. I chose to compose our shots slightly wider than conventional interview framing, and tried to incorporate as much depth in the background as possible, to touch on 84.51’s brand messaging themes of challenging conventions, expansiveness, and limitless potential for exploration. For the color grade, we used 84.51’s purple brand color to give it a slight tint, without feeling too unnatural. I wanted to the contrast ratios to feel sleek and stark, to give it an industrial and technological look, while maintaining enough softness to feel welcoming.

We filmed on RED Komodos with Zeiss CP.3’s to create a crisp, premium corporate look, and used BPM 1/8 filters to soften the digital edge.

Story:

The client provided the interview questions, but the unscripted Q&A format meant that we captured more content than we needed. We utilized a transcription workflow, so that I could create a paper edit, and essentially write the story based on the client’s goals and the customer’s answers. The editor then took my paper edit and used that as the basis from which we polished, tweaked, and trimmed the video down to its final cut.

Tone & Pace:

I went for a relaxed, but steady pace, to create a feeling of controlled and measured excitement. I wanted to create an aspiration tone, that touches on 84.51’s ambitious brand identity, and Snowflake’s groundbreaking technological advancements. I wanted to create a feeling of brightness, lightness, and movement– a feeling of wonder for budding and limitless potential.

Music:

I looked for electronic stock music, with a technological, industrial tone, that didn’t sound too corporate, techno, or EDM. It needed to be somewhat low-key, not drawing too much attention to itself, yet had a driving pace to keep the flow moving. I wanted a feeling of momentum, with detailed or precise accents, to create a subtle synesthetic hint at massive flows of data.

Limitations & Solutions:

This project had a quick turnaround, with a week to pre-produce, three hours to film interviews and b-roll, and three weeks of post-production (including only one day of color and sound). But with thoughtful planning and thorough preparation, we were able to maximize our time and exceed client expectations.

Without having time to scout in person, we did a virtual location scout over zoom with the help of our 84.51 point-of-contact.

In order to maximize our time with our interviewees, we arrived to set early and prepped as much as possible ahead of their arrival. While filming the 1st interview, our 2nd subject arrived and went into hair and makeup. Once the first interview was completed, we filmed b-roll with our two subjects together, releasing our 1st interviewee once that was completed. I was strategic and intentional with filming b-roll, in order to get the most runway out of it and reduce set-up times. After shooting the b-roll, we flipped the interview set up and shot out our 2nd interview in the same space as the 1st one, keeping all of our filming contained to a small general area.

Since we didn’t have the time or budget to capture original footage in multiple retail and grocery stores, we leveraged some of the customer’s existing footage from previous projects, and stock, in order to tell the full story of how Snowflake helps 84.51 and the CPG industry.